BREAKING: Billy Dee Williams Returning as Lando for Star Wars: Episode IX
The Hollywood Reporter has dropped a Star Wars bombshell: Billy Dee Williams is returning as Lando Calrissian for Star Wars: Episode IX, which begins filming this month.
Williams has made it clear that he would be willing to return to the franchise, and had even provided the voice for the character in several incarnations, including the show “Star Wars: Rebels” and in the video game “Star Wars: Battlefront II.”
Here is what we know, from the Hollywood Reporter:
Chatter about Williams joining the production, which is set to begin later this summer, increased in recent days when the actor bowed out of an upcoming sci-fi and pop culture convention citing a conflict with a movie schedule. Sources confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Williams will indeed be returning to the Star Wars film franchise for the first time since 1983’s Return of the Jedi. The Lando Calrissian character made his suave debut in 1980’s Empire Strikes Back.
Williams has in recent years returned to the role that fuels his appearances on the convention circuit, voicing Calrissian in various cartoon series and video games.
The character is one of the more popular personages in the Star Wars universe and appeared in a major way in this year’s Solo: A Star Wars Story. Donald Glover slipped on the cape to play a younger Calrissian.
Episode IX is being directed by J.J. Abrams and will reunite Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver, among others. Keri Russell is one of the new additions to the cast. The film is set to open Dec. 20, 2019.
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